Spanning the skies, its branches topped the clouds. Drinking in the morning rain before it could fall, the leaves unfurled and soaked in the morning sunshine. Great leaves that should have blocked the sun from above did nothing to stop its light below, the area underneath its canopy was filled with light reflected down. The ethereal nature of the World Tree left it out of phase with normal matter unless it chose to do so.
Standing among the branches, Khan Ni addressed the World Tree. In her elvish tongue she spoke, "Great one.. " She spoke of her vows and of her past, the experiences she's shared with others, her child and most often, she spoke of her beloved. Months had passed since her arrival.
'Dear Child. To Flourish is nothing to be ashamed of. When you find the one that you seek happiness with, all else fails to compare. Reclaim your seeds, seek reunion, bare fruit and reproduce.. spreading your legacy. My own forces flow with you now, so in a way, you are one of my children, not just a protector. What say you, Child of Vilagfa? Will you seek out your beloved once more, or remain in the comfort of my branches? I do not mind the company, but tears are salty, do not cry. I am strong, your grandchildren may one day sit among my branches, so go. Go out. Out with you.' A strong pulse of energy was building inside of the world tree, it grew more illusory as it concentrated its power. A golden glow once again enveloped Khan Ni, dragging her into a leaf that bent around her.
Vilagfa cast her into the wind, sailing on the first leaf to be shed from the World Tree.
Khan Ni sailed in the wind, high above the clouds. Acting swiftly, she took out Erinle's Compass and concentrated on her beloved. The compass needle shifted, pointing to the North. She leaned and turned the floating leaf, catching the wind and sending her in his direction.
֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍
The Barrier started to rise, the blood of the Emperors Army was boiling, ready for action. Lu Sha's quick action had contained the battleground, likely a tactic he had learned from the Pirions, Genba led the ground forces after they landed the Aeroships. The battle had not started, putrid beings began to pour out of the City walls and come up from the ground below.
It was a Trap. The Brown Miasma that surrounded the city began to swirl and change its direction. instead of remaining idle it dug into the soil and found an escape route in the holes dug by the demons. The Breath attacks from above helped contain it initially, but then riders on bicosaurs appeared. Undead, orcs and even some corrupted humans wearing flesh masks were among the riders, they wielded halberds and led their own ground forces.
A stormcloud brewed above, mages were battling for control over the elements, several at a time they were working to change the direction of the winds, flushing it out or at least away from the battle. A great series of tornadoes started to appear during the struggle and the battleground began to grow more chaotic.
Archers stood by the railguns on the sides of the Aerocraft and focused their attention at the bloodspawn that were pouring in from the City. A single bite left untreated would kill, marking the target for Vampires with its scent mixed into their bloodstreams. The festering wounds were nothing compared to the looming death after being bitten, this went for all species. Vampires absorbed the forces of others by converting them into subspecies, taken over by the parasites that once controlled their ancestors.
"Don't let up on the pressure, keep firing." Kresz pushed the firing mechanism to the limit, he trained his eyes on the falling trail of the railgun and took aim at anything that didn't look like one of their own. The speed could only go as fast as they could reload. tens of thousands of rounds had already been fired.
"RELOADING!" Another soldier called out, yanked the canister from the side and slipped its replacement in. While Kresz was firing, several people worked to replace the spent ammunition. It was not all that time consuming, but it was much faster to fire the weapon than to make a shell. The Team of four worked tirelessly to make shells during the ongoing battle.
The roar of the aerocraft's anti-gravity spellwork finally stopped, all the craft had landed. The battleground pressure changed, everyone's heads began to clear up as things were starting to get messy.
The Emperor swapped his Elemental form to Light and began clearing a path into the city walls, the miasma seemed to be clinging to the exterior. They had already fallen into the trap, it was their first official campaign mission, they had to get it right. Wu Hai burned brighter than before, his light nearly blinded a few nearby.
A nova happened during his powerup, a break in the enemy line had split the miasma and the approaching gaggle of death that approached. A Bicosaur rider led the charge from the eastern wall and what looked like zombies scrambled over the western gates. The wall of zombies were being bombarded with fire magic and struck by the melee weapons of the assault team when they scattered. The Spot at his core created blades of light in his hands and he started to tear into the undead forces, leading as the vanguard.
Fliers worked to contain the team of bicosaur riders, William's squadron was challenging the Orcish woman on the burning undead carcass that she was riding. It smoked, blinding his advance while she fled and fired at her rear. William had been through similar battles in video games, he dodged and rolled while trailing her closely. She would stop midair and change direction frequently, the Bicosaur seemed strangely agile for its decaying body.
William decided to stop aiming for her and plunged his claws through the bicosaurs ribs and flew through its abdomen, catching her in his talons and tumbling through the sky. He was covered in bile and filth, rotten food that still lined the abdominal cavity of the Bicosaur clung to his scales like scattered butter. He was slippery. She fell from his hands uncontrollably and hurtled toward the ground.
William flew toward his next opponent, Bloodspawn stopped his advance. He sent out a psychic pulse and then a breath attack, freezing them in their poses and sending them along to see the Orc Woman. Small specs of red dotted the battlefield, they dropped like hail from the sky.
Mike charged with a flight of Dragonkin, toward the Western Gates. Zombies kept pouring out, there were almost a hundred thousand in total, the population of Portano before the Evil King's madness took their lives. Some of them were nimble, but most of them couldn't withstand a single attack. Mike cleaved through dozens of them at a time, it was an uphill battle toward the castle ruins and they still had to clear the buildings.
He sent out blades of Ice in every direction but they did little to affect the walking corpses. Mike switched to his Fleshbound Master Hammer and taunted the group with a pound to the cobblestone roads. Bricks flew and flesh was torn apart. Another break in the forces split the Zombie horde for a moment but it filled back in like water to a pool.